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Summary

Featuring twenty-six in-depth and engaging articles, Conflicting Interests: Readings in Social Problems and Inequality is a unique social problems reader in which the majority of the selections reflect the conflict perspective. This approach views social problems as the consequence of social and economic inequalities and therefore encourages students to critically analyze American public policy responses to social problems. Conflicting Interests is organized into five sections: Thinking about Social Problems, The Economics of Inequality, Social Inequalities, Problems of the Family, Crime and Drugs, and Problems of the Environment. Several articles address the contemporary economic crisis and the role that the media plays in constructing social problems. In addition, many of the essays describe public policies in countries outside of the United States, providing students with alternative, cross-cultural perspectives and solutions to social problems. Each section begins with an introduction that briefly summarizes the articles and shows how they are interrelated. Each essay concludes with critical thinking questions that are designed to stimulate class discussion and to help students carefully evaluate the issues. A thought-provoking and accessible supplement for social problems courses, Conflicting Interests can also be used in courses on inequality or social stratification. It is an ideal supplement to editor Robert Heiner's textbook, Social Problems: An Introduction to Critical Constructionism, Third Edition.

Table of Contents

Preface

Thinking about Social Problems

The Sociological Imagination: The Promise

Constructing Social Problems

An Introduction to the Sociology of Social Problems

The Problem of Journalism

The Economics of Inequality

The Governing Class

The New Economic Insecurity

The Copenhagen Consensus

Global Inequality and the Challenges of Reducing Extreme Poverty

Social Inequalities

Women and Wealth: A Primer

The Payoff from Women's Rights

Doubly Divided: The Racial Wealth Gap

School Finance: Inequality Persists

Double Standards in Health Care

Problems of the Family

The Way We Wish We Were: Defining the Family Crisis

Striking a Balance

More than Welcome: Families Come First in Sweden

Life without Children

Crime and Drugs

The Implicit Ideology of Criminal Justice

Schools and Prisons: How Far Have We Come since Brown v. Board of Education?

The Growth of Incarceration in the Netherlands

First, Reduce Harm

Rx Drugs, 60 Minutes

Problems of the Environment

Reversal of Fortune

The Establishment vs. the Environment

The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty, World Resources Institute

Differential Vulnerabilities: Environmental and Economic Inequality and Government Responses to Unnatural Disasters